The Coot's 360-degree level deck is circled by a gunwale and railing. Rails consists of 1.25-inch steel tubing on the vertical posts and the top rail, with 1-inch tubing for the lower rail. They're sturdy (don't wiggle when one takes hold) and come up to the waist. There are also railings on the top edges of the saloon and forward cabin, providing a two-hand hold when desired when maneuvering along the relatively wide 16-inch side decks. I'm happy with the arrangement, particularly since I've a poor sense of balance.

Mark: The answer is "no", I'm not satisfied. I have no problems with the strength of my SS railings, many with double base stanchions, but when being aboard the Great Harbors and larger Krogens, I prefer the larger diameter for grip and rigidity. If someone gave me the material, I'd change them in a heartbeat. Always admired your substantial rails, by the way.

Yes. They are a good compromise between the usual and what I really want ... none. See the 1st pic. No fat tube railings. No fenders. No anchor pulpit or anchor to be seen either. Not much of anything but a skinny wire. The boat would look better if the wire wasn't white too.

In the second pic see the great clean lines and unspoiled visibility over the bow. This is ideal but at times the safety of the wire sailboat railings are a comfort.

I don't think they limit the forward view at all. Everyone has their own sight picture that they prefer but bow pulpit railings, side railings that run all the way up to the bow, and so forth don't impair my forward visibility one iota. I don't even see them when we're underway. Same as I don't see the panel brace in some types of floatplanes that runs diagonally across the windshield right in front of my face. You learn to "look around" them.

And between the boat's movement and my movement at the wheel, those little railing tubes never keep me from seeing anything directly in front of the boat.

Mainship has done a pretty good job for a production boat. 1 1/4" stainless above the gunwale and all the way around the exposed upper deck. Upper deck comes to the waist and the lowers are a bit higher. Strong and bases are well mounted.

We're pretty happy with ours. They're several inches taller and more stout than our last boat, with 1 1/4" top rail and 1" lower rail. I wish they came back a little further along each side, but we're not griping.

One of the reasons my wife bought the Eagle was because of the high solid rails and the teak top rails with the monkey fist scroll. I do not have a close up but the bow railing and the top salon roof has the monkey fist also.

Hey! we are trying to support the local economy. Or at least put Julio's kids through college. LOL. Actually we got the covers to save on maintenance and it has paid off. Though if the wood is always covered, it seems kind of a waste to have beautiful wood.

Hey! we are trying to support the local economy. Or at least put Julio's kids through college. LOL. Actually we got the covers to save on maintenance and it has paid off. Though if the wood is always covered, it seems kind of a waste to have beautiful wood.

I noticed the nice fitting (new looking) covers on your hand-rail. Good job!!

Actually we got the covers to save on maintenance and it has paid off. Though if the wood is always covered, it seems kind of a waste to have beautiful wood.

We keep our rail covers on most of the time and they do make a big difference in maintenance. Also I have very little time to spend working on the wood as much as I enjoy it. So the covers help prevent further deterioration on the wood we haven't had time to properly refinish yet.

We take them off for longer cruises. I much prefer the look of wood rails and trim on a boat to the "Clorox bottle" look of many production boats even if the wood makes for more maintenance. And actually we learned a long time ago that we can work on the wood when we're out on the boat if we want to. Rather pleasant to do some finish work in a nice anchorage as opposed to the slip.

Yes, it could be seen as a shame to cover the wood, but the fact is that the wood is always there and you can uncover it whenever you want to. The folks with the Clorox bottle boats simply have---- well, Clorox bottle boats. Way boring looking in my book.

People go out of their way to go look at a nice looking boat with beautiful wood on it. But they don't give a glance at the bottle boats like Uniflites, Tollycrafts, Bayliners, Carvers, and such. I certainly don't.

I'm not happy with my rails at the bow. It might be hard to visualize from the photo, but above the deck the bow flares out at the same angle as the bow itself. Then the rails continue that outward flare. The result is that if your leg is against the rail you are already half way overboard! Pretty useless - may as well not have any rails. Although I like the teak capping.

At some point I want to change the rails so they actually provide safety and support. I think with vertical stanchions, possibly set inboard below the toe rail and raised a few inches higher they would be great. I'd like to try a photoshop mod first to confirm the look. And right now there are more pressing calls for boat dollars, so it will be a while.